Emergency responders spent the night huddled around computers and radios as they managed a rescue operation to locate two missing men on the Neuse River. A command post was set up in the Brightleaf Flea Market parking lot in Smithfield.
Boats from the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, Smithfield Fire, Brogden Fire and Four Oaks Fire Departments spent several hours on the river searching for the missing men.
Family members said they received a distress call from them just prior to the lost pair losing cell service at around midnight Sunday. The men had reported that their inflatable boat was losing air and they did not know where they were located.
Once on dry land they said that they had gotten on the Neuse River around 5pm Sunday heading for the Richardson Bridge Road boat ramp, but were unaware that it would take so long to get there.
It took less than three hours for searchers to locate the men who were found standing in the river just east of Smithfield. The men were soaking wet but uninjured.
The two unidentified men was reunited with loved ones at around 4am Monday.
Neuse River is no where to be on an inflatable rafter. Where did they put in at?
You said what I was going to print. You never know what is on the bottom of the river sticking up. Glad all is safe.
It’s a l-o-n-g all day float from the I-95 Bridge to Richardson Bridge along the river!!!
Is that the same river as Burt Reynolds was In where they went aground and got in trouble with some locals?
Beautiful that everyone was found safe. Thank the Lord.